What did you do in the shop today?

[gewoon ik]

No, not hardable. Except if the hardened fase was mild steel hardness.

I quenched in in water also, because i didn't want to wait and i need to turn it around. But it never hardened, only gets softer.

I used the same bars to tyrap some cables to it and it welded very weird as well. 

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by Mod30
Excessive quoting

[Frosty]

The rod could've been cold drawn and or rolled to final dimension which really stiffens it up due to work hardening. 

4' long is a good length for a backyard fire pit or camp fire. If you make them toasting forks marshmallows are less likely to fall off or you can roast 2 at a time. Do you folks know about S'mores? Mmmmmm S'mores!

You can also toast sausages, steak,  bread, etc. more easily. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[gewoon ik]

For forks you split the round stock, I assume.

You put it in a vise and split it axial or you flatten it (a bit) and split it radial?  

Sounds like a stupid question but it is buggin me. I split a piece of 30x6 to make my snowflake bowl but that was always flat. 

I have to test

 

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by Mod30
Excessive quoting

[Frosty]

I don't, no. I fold the fork end like a hair pin and hot twist and flatten about 1" of the lap then cut the bend and draw the tines out. 

Lets see if I can describe that more clearly with a how to.  I'd bend the end 2" and fold it against the shaft. Then after taking a heat hold the end 1" in the vise and twist the free end of the bend tight to the shaft. Take another heat and flatten the twist on the same plane as the fold, then cut the bend, open, draw out, shape and sharpen the tines. 

You can of course forge weld the free end of the fold to the shaft rather than twist them together.

Does that make sense?

Frosty The Lucky.

[Dewnmoutain]

Made more flowers.

30 left to go

[Shainarue]

Frosty that's a really fun technique for forks! I suppose if you don't want a twist element near the fork end, that's when you'd use the forge weld? 

Today I begged off early from work to go pick up a post vice I won in an online farm auction. On my way there, I stopped at a few places that had pallets and broke them down to fit in my car. These will be used to frame the walls in the metal shed. So an hour later, my car was piled full of boards with nails and a post vice. Then I stopped at the scrap yard (beyond ecstatic to have found this place) and grabbed a 1/2" steel plate for the vice stand - about 18" by 50" - right at 100lbs and somehow managed to fit it on top of all the boards. Only bent a few nails. 

Back home, I unloaded everything - ignoring the itch to play with the new vice and clean up the pallet boards - and dragged out the forge to start on the letter opener. I was soooo close to satisfied with the eyes of the dragon head... and then one whack too many when it wasn't hot and that thin eyelid just cracked wide open. When will I learn?! By then it was dark so tomorrow I'll look at it in the light to see how I can integrate that into the final design rather than start over. Or maybe just file that eyelid flat and punch a new one. 

Pics tomorrow hopefully! 

[Frosty]

Yes. A twist at the fork can be hard to clean, I used to stick them in the coals till they turned red and they're CLEAN and STERILE. 

You can fold and lap weld, or turn a loop and lap weld where the free end crosses the shaft. Orrrrr.

A really simple toasting fork is to bend a length in half, say 6' makes a 3' fork. Twist the entire length enough to hold the tines close and you have a toasting fork. Leave a little open loop at the bend to hang it. Or just bend it over to make a hook.

Toasting forks can be as easy or fancy as suits. The one below is one I helped a student, Lindsay forge. She is an avid hiker, canoer, kayaker, biker, etc. and wanted a steel toasting fork. I convinced her packing 3' of 3/8" square steel rod was more PITA than goodness. I'll bet she might've packed it somewhere one time and forgotten about it.

Instead we made the one pictured below. The short cork screw screws onto a trimmed stick to make it as long as you'd like and it packs in little space, weighs about 6oz. two corks on the tines keeps it from poking holes in things you'd prefer un-holy. 

The pig's tail is the same size as a candle so once you've toasted dinner you can poke it in a piece of wood or the ground as a candle holder and have a romantic wienie feast. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Hefty]

18 hours ago, gewoon ik said:

I have no idea about a good length to make these. I wad thinking 30cm or 12". Thickness, i like thin, this is 4mm (1/8") but 6mm (1/4") is maybe better? 

I would either go 4mm and flatten the end like a little spade, or, 6mm and split into a tiny fork: Marshmallows don't always behave when you rotate the stick for even roasting. Both of these shapes will prevent the marshmallow spinning on the stick as it melts, if it is a little off centre on the stick.

Oops, missed the extra page of replies before I posted mine! Frosty beat me by miles!!

Cheers,

Jono.

[JHCC]

Some chased customization on a knitting bowl. 

[Goods]

I’m planning on making a hatchet from forklift tine with a spring steel bit, but wasn’t sure how well they would weld up. So, tonight I figure I’d try it out with some cut offs and made a small slitting chisel with the same bit setup:

Only a 1/2” shank with a narrow 7/8” blade. (The cut offs were fairly small) It looks like the weld took nicely:

Now to sharpen it and get on to the actual projects…

Keep it fun,

David

[BillyBones]

Goods when i first read that i thought you were going to cut a fork lift tine with the chisel. 

[JHCC]

Nice looking chisel. 

[ThomasPowers]

Had a single digit (age) smith over yesterday and he made his second project a camp cooking tripod.  (That he can use his first project---an S hook with.)  He and his Mother also went to the scrapyard with me. In the afternoon a friend came over with a new to the craft smith and he did his S hook.

For toasting forks I use steel wire, about 1/8" diameter and fold it and twist it to make it stout enough.  I get the wire after elections where signs are left on the public right-away; often by the hundreds!  I have also found a box of them at the scrapyard, unused.

[jlpservicesinc]

David, 4140 welds very nicely.. Looks great. 

[gewoon ik]

frosty it took a while figure it out, but now i get it (also the second story helped). Is a nice way to make sure you have material enough. I will try it. Althou I'm not overly enthousiastic about twists. And forgewelds are still a hit or miss at this moment.

Hefty thanks. It will be 8mm stock. I happened to recieve 3x 2m of 8mm round stock. Perfect. With that size i go for forks.

Goods nice chisel. I can use one

Thomas. You forgewelds the folds together? Or it stays "loose"?

Mods, sorry. It will take a while to addapt to the non quoting. (Also to not using the @ in front of the name). Some forums want you to quote so it is easier to follow along.

 

[ThomasPowers]

No I don't forge weld the twisted wire toasting forks; I'd send a picture but they are at a gun show this weekend hopefully replenishing my collection of steel engravings of dead presidents!  (Plus a few other people...)

I once did a demo for a pack of cub scouts where every scout made a toasting fork and then "proved them in" with hot dogs and marshmallows!  With that young of students it was all 1:1 and hyper vigilance.  (Though they all tried to feed me afterwards.)  Length is often dependent on their use. A small BBQ means short "small" toasting forks works fine.  My Pastor down on the border likes LARGE fires and so I used some 3/8" sq stock and made him a 6+' (2 meter) toasting fork with a Y support to lean it on near the fire.

[gewoon ik]

Take your time. I'm refining my ideas in my head amd try some bits on wensday (i know i have forgetime then). See what i can and where my limitations are.

[Cavpilot2k]

Not today, but just recently: I have started dabbling in armoring, starting with a spangenhelm. I am using bought rivets with nice domed heads and need to preserve the shape of the head when peening the bottom of the rivet. I have a little dapping block, but none of the holes fit quite right, so I made my own - I guess it is called by some a rivet-snap tool?

Coil spring straightened out, drilled a shallow pilot hole then got it up to forging temp and pounded one of the rivet heads into it to deform the hole to precisely fit the size and type of rivet. 

Then I heat treated it, letting the colors run to temper it to a nice spring temper. 

I used it to put the spangenhelm together and it worked like a charm!

[Rojo Pedro]

Nice one Cavpilot. I need one too

super nice chisel Goods

John did you chase with a chisel?  Looks really good and I bet Stella loves it

 

[JHCC]

Yes, with a round-tipped chisel to fit around the curves. I started with a chisel that’s a bit too wide, unfortunately, which left a rather ragged line. Subsequent cleanup with a smaller chisel helped somewhat. 

[Frosty]

I've never heard one called a "rivet snap tool," but there's a lot I've never heard. I've always called them a rivet set, as in setting the rivet head. A rivet "seat" is like a shouldering tool and is for making sure pieces being rivetted together are in hard contact before setting / heading the rivet.

I make them that way too if I don't have a bearing ball the right dia. 

Well done.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Cavpilot2k]

Thanks Frosty!

I think the rivet/snap tool name comes from leather working where you have a similar dimple depression for holding the top of a snap while peening the inner part to attach it, but yeah, I don't like that name either -  I just don't know what else to call it. It isn't a rivet header, because it's not making a head, just preserving its shape. 

I never thought of using a ball bearing, but I figured the rivet itself would make a good form. It actually too two, as they did deform like they are supposed to. 

Funny think about rivets is I was trying to find a source, including making my own out of nails until I discovered that McMaster Carr sells them in all kinds of shapes and sizes in bulk at a very affordable price. There are probably plenty of other places to get pre-made rivets, but I haven't found them cheaper. 

[Frosty]

AH HAH, I even have one somewhere! Why not call it a header, it'll make a FINE head won't it? However I suppose if you're using it to back rivets while you head the other ends it'd be a rivet "buck."

If you're using nails, buck them with a flat . . . something and use this tool to set nice round head. Bearing balls make it easy to make round, dome, and such rivet heads. It's easier to make a diamond header if you start out with round.

Iron rivets are getting a lot easier to find. 30+ years ago, there was a serious hardware store in Anchorage called McKays and they carried every darned thing including a wide assortment of rivets, iron, aluminum, brass and copper in fact. Wonderful place but the owners wanted to retire and none of their kids wanted to run the store. They actually told the folks they'd sell it off for the money so the folks sold it and spent the money themselves. I LOVED Mr. and Mrs. McKay. 

The last time I was in I discovered it was a going out of business liquidation sale. I picked up a few things but wasn't in town long enough to take advantage. There was a metal spinning lathe, tools and such in the power tool store I would've bought in a heart beat. The regular price wasn't bad it just wasn't set up as a scissor tool lathe and I wasn't a stick spinner. Still. <sigh>

Anyway, iron rivets got really hard to find, mail order was it outside a limited size range of brake rivets. Then a McMaster Carr opened in Anchorage and carried or would order rivets. Next thing you know even Fred Meyer is carrying iron rivets. I do SO love competition. There is a Fastenall within reasonable driving distance but they're more expensive and have a more limited selection. Then again I don't know when I've used a whole box worth of rivets.

Yeah, McMaster Carr is the better prices for many things, rivets for sure. It's just a 55 mile drive one way from here.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Donal Harris]

On 10/24/2022 at 4:34 PM, alexandr said:

And in Russia now it's a complete "ass".

Did something get lost in translation? And do you ever ship to the USA?

 

Finally finished the cane for my Dad. I think next time I won’t use wrought for the feathers. It is too hard to keep hot as thin as they are, thus they want to crack, split, or just break. One of them I had to use a welder to put it back together twice. Plus you can’t really tell they are wrought iron beneath all the BLO and beeswax anyway.
 

I had worried about the quill ends breaking or splitting when bending them over into the grooves on top of the head. I had thought I would need to do what I believe someone from here suggested, use a torch to heat the ends and dunk the head in a bucket of water to keep the wood from burning. But I didn’t need to. I had been worrying about nothing. 
 

Dad is in South Dakota hunting birds now, so I assume he has fully recovered from his surgery and no longer needs it for getting around, but I guess it won’t be totally without use for him when he gets back. It might come in handy should some wanker decide he wants my Dad’s wallet. 
 

 

[Frosty]

That's a BEAUTIFUL cane, D! I'll bet your Dad uses it just because you made it and it's so beautiful. He'll be bragging you up everywhere. It'll work to discourage cut purses and  minstrels most excellently. Puts me in mind of a name, "Woody The Hood Pecker." 

Frosty The Lucky.